The government had resisted pressure for months to tighten rules on supply chains as flagship legislation for setting up the state-owned clean energy company, Great British Energy, made its way through parliament. Labour MPs were instructed earlier this year to defeat attempts by rebels to amend the bill.
But on Wednesday, Miliband announced ministers would be clamping down on the risk of slave labor after all — by tabling their own amendment to the bill, which will commit the government to “measures for ensuring that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in [GB Energy’s] business or supply chains.”
The move has, on the whole, assuaged anxieties among lawmakers. At least for now.
Forced labor exposure
“We didn’t necessarily need a law change. We needed to see the intent, [but] we now have both,” said Sarah Champion, a Labour MP and the chair of parliament’s International Development Committee, who twice led those rebel efforts to strengthen the bill.
She withdrew her last proposed amendment after ministers agreed a string of concessions, including promising cross-Whitehall meetings to root out risks of human rights abuse. The government amendment is likely an attempt to package up those commitments in legislation.
“I genuinely didn’t think when I started this in September we’d get [the] government to go as far as it has,” Champion said.